"It"s now or never, before they rush in on us."
They raced to the breach in the wire wall of the stockade. Mr. Raymond, springing up from where he had taken refuge behind a pile of refuse, was there to greet those he had saved, and he and Tom clasped hands silently in the gloom that was lighted up by the fires and the bursts of light from the munition explosions.
"Oh, Dad! And it"s really you!" murmured Tom.
"Yes, my boy! _I_ never expected to see you again. Did you know I was here?"
"I never dreamed of it! But don"t let"s stop to talk. We must get to the airship at once! But you are wounded, Dad!"
"Nothing but a splinter from a bomb. It"s only a cut on the head, Son,"
and Mr. Raymond wiped away the blood that trickled down on his face.
The newly freed prisoners lost no time. With a rush they made for the airship. If they could only get aboard and start it off all would yet be well. Could they do it?
Momentary silence had followed the detonation of the two hand grenades thrown by Mr. Raymond, but now there came yells of rage from the Germans, disclosing that they had become aware of what was going on.
"Lively, everybody!" cried Tom, as he led the way to the big plane.
"Are we all here?" asked Jack.
A rapid count showed that not one of the brave force had been left behind.
"Is there room for me?" asked Mr. Raymond.
"Well, I should say so!"
"If there isn"t I"ll stay behind," cried Jack.
"No you won"t!" exclaimed Tom. "There"ll be room all right!"
The running men reached the plane just as they could see, in the light of the burning factories, a squad of Germans rushing to intercept them.
In haste they scrambled aboard, and pressed the self-starter on the engine. There was a throbbing roar, answered by a burst of fire from the German rifles, for the place had been so devastated that no machine guns were available just then.
"All aboard?" asked Tom, as he stood ready to put the motors at full speed and send the craft along the ground, and then up into the air.
"All aboard--we"re all here!" answered Jack, who had kept count. And Mr.
Raymond was included.
Then with a louder roar the motors jumped to greater speed, and the Italian plane started off. In another instant it rose into the air.
With yells of rage the Germans even tried to hold it back with their hands, and, failing, they increased their fire. But though the plane was. .h.i.t several times, and two on board shot, one later dying from his wounds, the whole party got off. A few minutes later they were above the burning factories, and had a view of the great destruction wrought on the German base. So completely destroyed was it that few defense guns were left in condition to fire at the aeroplane.
"Well, we did that in great shape!" exclaimed Jack, as they were on their way over the Rhine again.
"Couldn"t have been better," conceded Tom. "And, best of all, we have dad with us."
"How did it all happen?" asked Jack.
"I don"t know. We"ll hear the story when we are safe in France."
And safe they were as the gray morning broke. They arrived just as the crew of the other plane were relating, with sorrow, the fall of Tom, Jack and their comrades, and the rejoicing was great when it was known they were safe, and had not only outwitted the Huns, but had brought away a most important prisoner.
"And now let"s hear how it all happened," begged Major de Trouville, when the injured had been made as comfortable as possible. There were three of these, and one dead on the plane that returned first.
The story of the attack on the German base was given in detail, and then Mr. Raymond took up the tale from the point where he had landed in Europe.
He had started for Paris, just as he had written Tom, and had taken lodgings in the Rue Lafayette. He went out just before the starting of the bombardment by the big gun, and so escaped injury, but he fell into the hands of some German spies, who were on his trail, and who succeeded, after having drugged him, in getting him into Germany.
The spies had succeeded in getting on the trail of a new invention Mr.
Raymond had perfected, and which he had offered to the Allies. He had come to Paris on this business. The Huns demanded that he devote it to their interests, but he refused, and he had been held a prisoner over the Rhine, every sort of pressure being brought to bear on him to make him accede to the wishes of his captors.
"But I refused," he said, "and they decided I should be shot. Whether this was bluff or not I don"t know. But they never got a chance at me.
In the night I heard, in my prison, the sound of explosions, and I soon realized what had happened. It was your bold airship raid, and one of the bombs burst my prison. I ran out and saw the Italian planes in the air.
"What then happened you know better than I, but what you probably do not know is that you very likely owe your lives to a dispute that arose between the German infantry and the air squadron division," and he indicated Tom, Jack and the others who had been in the stockade.
"How was that?" asked Jack.
"The airmen claimed you as their prey, and the infantrymen said they were ent.i.tled to call you theirs. So, even in the midst of the fire and destruction, the commandant had to order you put in the stockade until he could decide whose prisoners you were. The infantrymen said they had captured you, but the airmen said their fire had brought down your plane."
"Well, that was partly true," said Tom. "But it was an explosion from below that knocked us out temporarily. But we"re all right now. And so are you, aren"t you, Dad?"
"Yes, but I worried a lot, not knowing what had happened to you, Tom, and being unable to guess what would happen to me. I was in the hands of clever and unscrupulous enemies. How clever they were you can judge when I tell you they took me right out of Paris. Perhaps the bombardment made it easier. But tell me--what of the big guns?"
"Some of them are out of commission, thanks to your brave boy and his comrades," said Major de Trouville.
"Good!" cried Mr. Raymond. "Some rumor to that effect sifted in to me there, but it seemed too good to be true. The Germans must be wild with rage."
"I guess they are," admitted Jack.
"And it would have gone hard with you if they had found you were the ones responsible," went on Tom"s father. "As soon as I was out of my prison and saw the state of affairs, I managed to get the grenades, and I decided to rescue the airship men if I could. I never dreamed my own son would be among them, or that I might be brought away."
And now it but remains to add that because of their exploits Tom and Jack received new honors at the hands of the grateful French, and, moreover, were promoted.
Mr. Raymond, who had steadfastly refused to reveal the secret of his invention to the Huns, immediately turned it over to the Allies.
Word of Mr. Raymond"s safety and of the success of Tom and Jack was sent to those in Bridgeton, and that city had new reasons for being proud of her sons.
But the war was not over, and the Germans might be expected to develop other forms of frightfulness besides the long-range guns, which, for the time being, were silenced. However, the destruction of the factories and ammunition stores by the raid over the Rhine was a blow that told heavily on the Hun.
"Well, it seems there"s another vacation coming to us," said Tom to Jack one morning, as they walked away from the breakfast table in their mess.
"Yes? Well, I think we can use it. What do you say to a run into Paris to see your father? He"s surely there now, and I"d like to have a talk with him."
"With--_him?_" asked Tom, and there was a peculiar smile on his face.
"Of course," said Jack.
"Oh," was all Tom answered, but he laughed heartily.